I'd like to add coffee to my hot cocoa recipe, but I'm not interested in using instant coffee. What do you all think is the best method- maybe I should heat my grounds & milk together and let it steep? Has anyone ever tried this?

3 Answers
3

When my husband and I were trying to make good coffee ice cream, we did just that -- steeping the coffee beans in milk. It worked quite well.

If you have a French Press, you can use that with coarsely ground coffee beans. Heat the milk to a simmer or even a very low boil, and then use it in place of water in the French Press. This was how we got the best results for our ice cream.

You can also get good results from whole beans. Heat the whole beans in milk in a pot, and then let sit in the refrigerator overnight. Strain out the beans, and you'll have strongly coffee-flavored milk.

The purists argue that the milk fats and proteins will not allow the extraction of all the flavor from the coffee beans.
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BaffledCookDec 4 '10 at 15:38

This was my initial guess- I'll be experimenting today and let you know how it works!
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Mrs. GardenDec 4 '10 at 15:49

@GUIJunkie -- I didn't notice any missing flavors. Perhaps it was a tiny bit less bitter, but otherwise it just tasted like milky coffee. (But then again, I'm definitely not a coffee purist.)
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Martha F.Dec 5 '10 at 4:37

You could just make really strong coffee and add it to the rest of your mixture. A little water probably won't ruin it. Something like adding just enough water to cover your coffee grounds should make it strong enough.